The Hindu 30.01.2014
Retired gardeners to maintain parks
BBMP to hire them on trial basis; 484 posts vacant in Horticulture Department
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will
hire retired gardeners to maintain parks in the South zone on a trial
basis, said Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan.
Yediyur
councillor N.R. Ramesh said of the 1,058 parks, 771 are maintained by
horticulture contractors. Though the BBMP spends nearly Rs. 15 crore
annually, parks are not maintained by the contractors, he alleged. “If
the BBMP hired retired gardeners, at least our parks will be well
maintained. Of the sanctioned posts of 987, as many as 484 posts are
vacant in the Horticulture Department,” he claimed.
Suspended
Nagapura
councillor S. Harish said while the Commissioner had directed officials
to float tenders for advertisement hoardings, an official had permitted
a private agency to put up hoardings in Ramamurthinagar and Horamavu.
Demanding the councillor’s suspension, Mr. Harish said this reflected
BBMP’s administrative failure. While Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana wanted to
issue a show-cause notice to the official, the Congress councillors
stormed the well and demanded that the official be suspended. Mr.
Laksminarayan then said the official would be suspended.
Hoarding
Objecting
to the hoardings put up outside the BBMP’s head office, Opposition
Leader B.N. Manjunath Reddy charged Yediyur councillor N.R. Ramesh of
“politics” as the hoardings on the unveiling of thespian actor
Rajkumar’s statue had photos of BJP leaders. “Rajkumar did not belong to
any party. The hoardings should be removed immediately,” he said.
Earlier,
Ruling Party Leader Ashwath Narayan Gowda suggested that all civic
agencies — BWSSB, Bescom, BDA, KIADB and others — work with the BBMP for
the city’s betterment. Mr. Reddy said Bescom was charging commercial
rates even for connections in BBMP’s schools, colleges and crematoria.
He urged Mr. Lakshminarayan to raise the issue with Bescom authorities.
